Les halles
Fernand Léger is better known for his cubist paintings, and also created simple drawings and portraits outlined in ink or pencil or with gouache. Most often these are the steps carried out that lead up to the painting he wanted to create. Thus if most of his after-war drawings related to large final compositions that he spent a long time producing, others concerned traditional genres, landscapes, still lifes, and women’s faces. Léger gave up using hard pencil and sharp nibs for gouache, with which he most often drew directly with a brush, with a wide and firm stroke.
Fernand Léger (1881-1955)
It was in May 1949, with the “Abstract Art” exhibition organised at the Galerie Maeght in Paris by Andry-Farcy, curator at the musée de Grenoble, and Michel Seuphor, which started off the collaboration between Fernand Léger and Aimé Maeght. And it was on the recommendation of Fernand Léger that Marguerite and Aimé Maeght visited the United States, to overcome their grief following the death of their youngest son Bernard. After visiting several American foundations – Barnes, Philips, Guggenheim – they decided to create a place where they could bring their collection together and provide a place for their artist friends to work together and discuss ideas.
